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A review by wanderinghomeward
The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker
4.0
★★★.75 /5
in an alternate tang dynasty, kylie lee baker paints the journey of fan zilan, a budding alchemist from southern china who fights her way to becoming a royal alchemist, in order to escape the plague of poverty. after accomplishing her dreams, though, she ends up facing more issues than she could have ever imagined.
fresh off of watching FMA: brotherhood, the premise of this book was just what i needed. baker illustrates the science behind alchemy so well that i could imagine and plot out a little web graph of elements being linked together in zilan’s mind every time she attempted an alchemical reaction. i also loved her as a character, in all her determined and headstrong characteristics (“eat the rich” incarnate). she has her flaws, of course – with “being senseless” as a glaring one lol – but it all works to represent her desperation and desire to succeed in the face of adversity.
the romantic subplot was sadly not for me. everything developed too quickly, without any (al)chemistry (haha) to spur the romance. they reach the “i would die for you” point out of NOWHERE and most of their time together in a relationship was just zilan *telling* us that he understood her in a way no one else did. in fact, a lot of the relationships in this book took a hit in favor of keeping the plot fast-paced and were quite under-developed, so it was difficult to emotionally connect with any of the side characters.
my biggest gripe was with the ending of the story. everything wrapped up TOO perfectly and QUICKLY, which detracted from all the suspense (that the author built up beautifully throughout the novel) and the stakes of zilan’s journey. this was just a sliver at the end of the book, so majority of the read was still enjoyable, but it really took me out of the moment ;-;
overall, though, this book excelled at keeping me on my toes. the twists and turns are plentiful (none of my guesses were right, but that might say more about me than the book) and there is no dearth of conflict in this story. also loved the historical context!!
durian supremacy
in an alternate tang dynasty, kylie lee baker paints the journey of fan zilan, a budding alchemist from southern china who fights her way to becoming a royal alchemist, in order to escape the plague of poverty. after accomplishing her dreams, though, she ends up facing more issues than she could have ever imagined.
fresh off of watching FMA: brotherhood, the premise of this book was just what i needed. baker illustrates the science behind alchemy so well that i could imagine and plot out a little web graph of elements being linked together in zilan’s mind every time she attempted an alchemical reaction. i also loved her as a character, in all her determined and headstrong characteristics (“eat the rich” incarnate). she has her flaws, of course – with “being senseless” as a glaring one lol – but it all works to represent her desperation and desire to succeed in the face of adversity.
the romantic subplot was sadly not for me. everything developed too quickly, without any (al)chemistry (haha) to spur the romance. they reach the “i would die for you” point out of NOWHERE and most of their time together in a relationship was just zilan *telling* us that he understood her in a way no one else did. in fact, a lot of the relationships in this book took a hit in favor of keeping the plot fast-paced and were quite under-developed, so it was difficult to emotionally connect with any of the side characters.
my biggest gripe was with the ending of the story. everything wrapped up TOO perfectly and QUICKLY, which detracted from all the suspense (that the author built up beautifully throughout the novel) and the stakes of zilan’s journey. this was just a sliver at the end of the book, so majority of the read was still enjoyable, but it really took me out of the moment ;-;
overall, though, this book excelled at keeping me on my toes. the twists and turns are plentiful (none of my guesses were right, but that might say more about me than the book) and there is no dearth of conflict in this story. also loved the historical context!!
durian supremacy